Conventionally, in an electrophotographic type image forming apparatus, paper to which toner is adhered is conveyed to a fixing device. The fixing device heats and presses the conveyed paper to fix the toner on the paper. The fixing device is provided with a heating roller and a pressing roller.
Incidentally, toner, paper fiber and the like may adhere to the surface of the heating roller of the fixing device as a foreign matter. For example, the toner that is not fixed on the paper and is left on the heating roller may adhere to the next conveyed paper as a foreign matter. The foreign matter adhering to the paper is fixed on the paper as a noise image and discharged. Further, the foreign matter adhering to the heating roller may also adhere to the pressing roller in the fixing process. The foreign matter adhering to the pressing roller is fixed on the back side of the next conveyed paper as a noise image.
There is an example in which the foreign matter is cleaned to prevent the occurrence of the noise image. For example, the heating roller is subjected to blade cleaning, roller cleaning, cleaning based on a fiber sheet, and the like.
However, the blade cleaning and the roller cleaning may cause damage in the surface of the heating roller easily. Further, in an example of pressing a fiber sheet against the heating roller to clean the heating roller, there are problems that the fiber sheet breaks or that the fiber sheet is slack. Thus, the service life of the fiber sheet is short and it is necessary to exchange the fiber sheet frequently. Further, there is a problem in the cleanability. Particularly, to maintain the long life of the fixing device, it is not preferred to exchange the cleaning member frequently.